Today is Nagasaki Day, the 63rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of that city, so let us observe a moment of silence and reflection. A ceremony will be held in Nagasaki today in memory of the victims of the tragedy and to encourage people to work for world peace and total nuclear disarmament, which is the message of Japan’s elderly hibakusha (atomic bombing survivors). On Wednesday, in the 2008 Hiroshima Peace Declaration, Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said: "On this day, we, too, etch in our hearts the voices, faces and forms that vanished in the hell no hibakusha can ever forget, renewing our determination that 'No one else should ever suffer as we did.’" Unfortunately, some people are still suffering as they did, specifically the victims of depleted uranium weapons. But almost no one is standing up for their rights. The radiological weapon depleted uranium has been used by the U.S. military in Iraq, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan, causing suffering beyond belief...

DU kids and hibakusha philosophy

Hamid Golpira

August 8, 2008

Today is Nagasaki Day, the 63rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of that city, so let us observe a moment of silence and reflection.

A ceremony will be held in Nagasaki today in memory of the victims of the tragedy and to encourage people to work for world peace and total nuclear disarmament, which is the message of Japan’s elderly hibakusha (atomic bombing survivors).

"On this day, we, too, etch in our hearts the voices, faces and forms that vanished in the hell no hibakusha can ever forget, renewing our determination that 'No one else should ever suffer as we did.’"

Unfortunately, some people are still suffering as they did, specifically the victims of depleted uranium weapons.

But almost no one is standing up for their rights.

The radiological weapon depleted uranium has been used by the U.S. military in Iraq, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan, causing suffering beyond belief.

On impact DU is partially pulverized, producing depleted uranium dust, which is then carried by the wind, contaminating the air, land, crops, irrigation systems, rivers, wells, and other water supplies. Since DU dust can be inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through the skin, it is not safe for people to live in contaminated areas.

Some of these areas are so irradiated that they will be uninhabitable for millions of years. And this is the main issue of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it seems that no one wants to talk about it.

Exposure to DU causes genetic damage, birth defects, cancer, immune system damage, and other serious health problems. In addition, many medical experts believe depleted uranium is the cause of Persian Gulf War Syndrome.

Physicians in Iraq have documented a threefold increase in childhood cancers and a fivefold increase in birth defects since 1990. The U.S. military used DU weapons in that country for the first time in 1991.

U.S. troops are also being affected. In one study of a group of 251 soldiers in Mississippi, it was determined that 67 percent of their post-war offspring were born with severe deformities. And this was not an isolated incident. Many other studies have documented a rise in birth defects in children of U.S. veterans of the radiological wars.

The images of the babies born with severe deformities as a result of genetic damage caused by depleted uranium weapons are truly horrific. People who are overly sensitive are advised to avoid looking at them.

Anyone else who would like to see the photos should take a look at these web sites:

In another part of the 2008 Hiroshima Peace Declaration, Mayor Akiba stated:

"Because the effects of that atomic bomb, still eating away at the minds and bodies of the hibakusha, have for decades been so underestimated, a complete picture of the damage has yet to emerge. Most severely neglected have been the emotional injuries. Therefore, the city of Hiroshima is initiating a two-year scientific exploration of the psychological impact of the A-bomb experience."

This is a very good idea. But why is there no proposal to study the psychological impact of the DU experience?

Most of the babies who are the victims of depleted uranium weapons will die before they will be able to express themselves -– if they have not already died -- but their parents and other relatives can be interviewed to tell their tales of woe.

It seems that most of the parents have genetic damage as a result of their exposure to depleted uranium and thus will never be able to have normal children, which surely causes great psychological trauma.

The mayor of Hiroshima made another important point in this year’s Peace Declaration when he said:

"To achieve the will of the majority by 2020, Mayors for Peace, now with 2,368 city members worldwide, proposed in April of this year a Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol to supplement the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This Protocol calls for an immediate halt to all efforts, including by nuclear-weapon states, to obtain or deploy nuclear weapons, with a legal ban on all acquisition or use to follow by 2015. Thus, it draws a concrete road map to a nuclear-weapon-free world. Now, with our destination and the map to that destination clear, all we need is the strong will and capacity to act to guard the future for our children."

It would probably be a good idea to add an article to the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol calling for a ban on depleted uranium weapons.

Mayor Akiba also called for a global "paradigm shift" to spread the "hibakusha philosophy" of total nuclear disarmament throughout the world.

Let’s take his advice to heart. If the world is to survive, we definitely need a global paradigm shift so we can attain the will and capacity to act to guard the future for our children.

Uruknet receives daily many hacking attempts. To prevent this, we have 10 websites on 6 servers in different places.
So, if the website is slow or it does not answer, you can recall one of the other web sites: www.uruknet.info www.uruknet.de www.uruknet.biz www.uruknet.org.uk www.uruknet.com www.uruknet.org - www.uruknet.it www.uruknet.eu www.uruknet.net www.uruknet.web.at.it

:: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.
We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
For more info go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own
that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
:: We always mention the author and link the original site and page of every article.